EDUCATION 151 



are mixed up together because both are inherent in 

 human nature, only the farmer's mistakes lie patent 

 to the eye of every passer-by. It is in Scotland that 

 one seems to find a high general level of farming ; 

 there not only are the good very good, but those at 

 the bottom of the scale are still respectable farmers. 

 This difference, of course, is partially racial, but we 

 cannot fail to correlate it to some extent with the 

 differences in education in the two countries, and by 

 education we mean the general outlook of the man 

 more than his technical instruction. We may fairly 

 say that the ordinary farmer is a pretty good master 

 of his craft ; he knows how to manage his land, he 

 has an instinct for stock, and he gives very little 

 away in the practical day-to-day management of his 

 business. He is, however, very closely bound inside 

 the routine of his district, he has little acquaintance 

 with the methods by which other people attain the 

 same ends, and is impatient of even attempting to 

 think whether he cannot introduce modifications into 

 his own system. He is apt to regard his style of 

 farming as inevitable, something that nature imposes 

 upon him and that he ought not to attempt to alter. 

 It is just this lack of flexibility of mind, this power 

 to look abroad and consider his business in a detached 

 fashion as a whole, putting aside for the time details 

 which are otherwise essential, that marks the imper- 

 fection in the education of the farmer to-day. The 

 same defects may be seen in his organizations for 

 social and political purposes. As a rule the Chambers 

 of Agriculture and Farmers' Unions only draw in a 

 small proportion of the farmers in each district ; their 

 action is often confused and unenlightened, and they 

 by no means carry the political weight that the 

 agricultural party ought to possess. Again, we may 



